Israel on Thursday destroyed the home of a Palestinian accused of killing a soldier in October 2022, in the northern occupied West Bank, the scene of a new outbreak of violence in recent days.
About 20 people — mostly Palestinians — have been killed since the beginning of the week in the West Bank, during Israeli military incursions or attacks by Palestinian assailants or Israeli settlers, bringing to more than 200 the number of deaths linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year.
Entering Nablus, a large Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, at night, Israeli soldiers came out at dawn after destroying Kamal Jouri’s apartment, located in an apartment building.
Kamal Jouri is accused by Israel of having participated in an attack in October 2022 which caused the death of a soldier. He is being held by Israel along with Osama Tawil, who was also accused of taking part in the attack and whose home was destroyed on June 15.
The Israeli policy of razing the homes of Palestinians responsible for murderous attacks against Israelis, or making their homes uninhabitable, is decried by human rights organizations for which it is akin to collective punishment.
The Israeli government, on the contrary, claims that it has a deterrent effect.
The northern West Bank — a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups where Israeli military operations are frequent, as well as anti-Israeli or Jewish settler attacks on Palestinian communities — has again been the epicenter of deadly violence in recent days. .
On Thursday, settlers moved with prefabricated mobile homes near the Palestinian villages of Sinjil and Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya and the Israeli settlement of Eli, local Palestinian officials told AFP, sharing their fears of seeing a new colony develop in an area that already has several.
“If the (settlement) expands, they will control the whole area as well as the main road and it will connect all the settlements in the area,” said Yaqoub Awis, mayor of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, where Israelis torched vehicles and damaged buildings on Wednesday.
The new cycle of violence began on Monday when an Israeli military raid on the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin left seven people dead, including a fighter from the armed organization Islamic Jihad and two 15-year-olds. The army had fired missiles from a helicopter, according to it to allow its troops to free themselves, and came up against strong local resistance on the spot.
On Tuesday, four Israelis were killed in a Palestinian attack near the Eli settlement. The two assailants were shot dead.
And on Wednesday, Israelis, some of whom were armed, swept into the Palestinian town of Turmusayya, between Ramallah and Nablus, burning homes and vehicles, witnesses and the Israeli army reported.
A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in this village. On the spot, journalists saw burnt houses and injured people evacuated by ambulance.
Finally, three Palestinians, fighters from the Jenin camp, were killed Wednesday evening in a drone strike.
The last Israeli drone strike in the West Bank was carried out in August 2006, according to a source within the Palestinian intelligence services.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 174 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources .
These statistics include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.
Apart from occupied and annexed East Jerusalem, nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. About 490,000 Israelis also live there in settlements considered by the UN to be illegal under international law.
06/22/2023 16:33:08 – Nablus (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP